''Van Beuren Studios'' (pronounced Van Burr-en), originally known as the "Fables Studio", was a cartoon studio that lasted from [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1928 to 1936]]. It is the least known cartoon studio of TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, yet its brief history is dotted with interesting films and major animation talents.

If asked what Van Beuren Studios was famous for, most people today would probably look at you with a blank stare, not knowing that the little known production company also helped lead the pack when it came to classic cartoons of their time.

Van Beuren Studios was started by an upstart named Amadee J. Van Beuren. Paul Terry was also involved in the studio’s history, but later left to start his own production company, called Creator/{{Terrytoons}}. Van Beuren’s most recognized characters were called “Tom and Jerry,” but bear no relation to the [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry cat and mouse characters]] released by MGM Studios eight years later. Their success was modest, yielding 26 cartoons in all. Aesop’s Fables, the studio’s other front runner gave rise to the now not so recognizable Cubby Bear, one of the series’ stars.

Walt Disney Studios had already made a splash with music and sound effects in their early toons, and Van Beuren promised to follow suit and do the same later on. The producers hired [[NoteworthyDisneyStaff Disney veterans]] Burt Gillett and Tom Palmer to create a new series in hopes of jump-starting the B-list studio’s reputation. The somewhat well-received series was called “Rainbow Parade”, a series of lavish SillySymphonies clones, also starring licensed characters like "Toonerville Folks" and "WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat".

Despite the studio’s mild successes during its waning years, it was forced to closed its doors when RKO Radio Pictures decided to release Walt Disney cartoons, rather than those produced by Van Beuren.

Like many non-Disney[=/=]Creator/WarnerBros cartoon studios, critics and historians generally tend to give Van Beuren the footnote treatment, writing off the cartoons as cheaply produced drivel—but this isn't quite true. For all the sloppy animation and one-note characters, there are some inspired gags here and there, as well as some very good musical scores provided with each cartoon. Despite this, many of the shorts were scattered and lost for a long time, due to their [[PublicDomainAnimation public domain status]] and lack of care. The fact that the studio's role in the HistoryOfAnimation was very minor and tangential compared to the other studios does not help. Fortunately, thanks to recent DVD collections, especially from Thunderbean, and the fact that all of the studios cartoons are public domain, the bulk of this studio's sound output is available on DVD for viewing.

It is also worth noting that Van Beuren Studios was located directly across the street from FleischerStudios, one of their biggest competitors.----!!Works of the studio:

* Aesop's Fables, AKA "Aesop's Film Fables" (1920-1933) inherited from the Fables Studio, which was formerly run by Paul Terry. Originally a long running silent cartoon series, it became a series of sound cartoons which introduced one of the earliest sound cartoons, "Dinnertime", which notably predates Disney's SteamboatWillie by a month. The sound era of the series lasted around 120 shorts, including its sub-series. Paul Terry's Farmer Al Falfa was also a recurring star of the silent shorts, even appearing in a few of the early sound films before Terry, who had left to found [[TerryToons his own studio]], wrangled back the rights to the character.** The Fables had its own sub-series, "Cubby Bear" (1933-1934), which ran for 16 shorts, with a 17th one being finished, but unreleased until it resurfaced on a Cubby Bear DVD collection decades later. Notably, three shorts in the series, "Gay Gaucho" (1933), "Cubby's World Flight" (1933) and the unreleased "Mischievous Mice" (1934) were outsourced to the [[Creator/HarmanAndIsing Harman-Ising]] cartoon studio, and they heavily resemble the [[BoskoTheTalkInkKid Bosko cartoons]] they made.* Van Beuren's Tom and Jerry (1931-1933) Two bungling young men, one short, one tall, which ran for 26 shorts. Absolutely no relation to MGM's TomAndJerry shorts, but when reissued as home movies, the characters were renamed "Dick & Larry" to prevent confusion.* The Little King (1933-1934): An animated adaptation of the classic Newspaper Comic strip, lasting 10 shorts. Two shorts preceding this series were also based on Little King's companion strip, "Sentinel Louie", but released as part of the Aesop's Fables series.* Amos N' Andy (1934): A short lived attempt at adapting the popular radio show of the 30s. It notably featured their original radio actors reprising their roles, but it only lasted for two shorts.* Toddle Tales (1934); A RogerRabbitEffect-based series of cartoons made by Burt Gillett to help beef up the quality of Van Beuren's product. It lasted three shorts.* Rainbow Parade (1934-1936); A series of color cartoons that lasted 26 shorts, and includes four sub-series and several oneshot cartoons. More than a few of them are obvious attempts to ride the coat tails of Disney's SillySymphonies. ** Parrotville Parrots (1934-1935): A 3 short gag series centered around a group of bumbling parrots.** Molly Moo Cow (1935-1936): A 7 short pantomime series centered around a nimble, friendly bovine, who helps out whoever she can. ** Toonerville Trolley (1936); An adaptation of Fontaine Fox's classic comic strip, lasting three shorts, with the third being the very last cartoon released by the studio.** [[FelixTheCat Felix the Cat]] (1936) While Felix was very prominent in the silent era, the rise of sound film ultimately proved to be his downfall. However, he survived as a popular newspaper comic, and did receive a very brief three-cartoon revival via Van Beuren Studios' "Rainbow Parade" series during the 1930s, with a fourth short in the planning stages before the Van Beuren Studio abruptly went belly-up In 1936.----[[folder: Silent and Sound Filmography]]

! 1915* Little Herman: Paul Terry's very first cartoon. Lost film.* Down on the Phoney Farm

!1920* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-KyOgEVn7U Wonders of the Deep]]* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHDxVZYY1L0 Day at the Park]] * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK-az1x4LiA A Cat's Life]]

!1921* The Wolf and the Kid * Cat and Mice * The Conceited Donkey * The Fly and the Ant * The Frogs That Wanted a King (no relation to a similarly named 1922 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wONKTobZgP8 puppet animation short]])* The Woman and the Hen * The Owl and the Grasshopper * The Fox and the Goat * The Cat and the Monkey * The Dog and the Bone * The Frog and the Ox * Venus and the Cat * The Wolf and the Crane * The Hare and the Tortoise * The Hermit and the Bear * The Fashionable Fox * Mice at War * The Donkey in Lion's Skin * The Fox and the Crow * The Cat and the Canary* The Country Mouse * Cats at Law * The Ants and the Grasshopper * The Rooster and the Eagle * Mice in Council * The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg * The Lioness and the Bugs * Hare and Frogs * The Bear and the Bees

!1922* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u1Epg779rQ Magic Boots]] * [[http://www.viki.com/videos/1019036v-aesops-fables-episode-16 Two of a Trade]] * The Fable of the Dog's Paradise * Two Trappers* The Fable of Henry's Busted Romance * The Fable of the Man Who Laughed * The Fable of Friday the 13th * The Fortune Hunters * The Enchanted Fiddle * The Elephant's Trunk * The Fable of Henpecked Henry * The Fable of the Romantic Mouse * The Fable of the Rolling Stone * The Fable of the Hated Rivals * The Big Flood * The Fable of Two of a Trade * Two Slick Traders * The Fable of the Two Explorers * The Boy and the Bear * The Fable of Fearless Fido * The Fable of the Mechanical Horse * The Fable of the Farmer and the Mice * The Fable of the Dog and the Fish * The Fable of the Boastful Cat* The Fable of the Worm That Turned * The Fable of the Mischievous Cat * The Fable of Brewing Trouble * Crime in a Big City * The Country Mouse and the City Cat * The Cat and the Pig* The Farmer and His Cat * The Maid and the Millionaire * The Dog and the Wolves * The Hunter and His Dog * Love at First Sight * The Model Dairy* The Eternal Triangle * The Boy and His Dog * The Dog and the Wolf * The Wicked Cat * The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing * The Rich Cat and the Poor Cat* The Boy and the Dog * The Lion and the Mouse * The Dissatisfied Cobbler * The Farmer and the Ostrich* The Spendthrift * The Tiger and the Donkey * The Cat and the Swordfish * The Dog and the Thief * The Villain in Disguise * The Fox and the Grapes * The Miller and the Donkey * The Swordfish* The Dog and the Flea * The Dog and the Mosquito * Chemistry Lesson

!1923* The Best Man Wins * The Good Old Days * Five Orphans of the Storm * The Cat Came Back * A Dark Horse * The Five Fifteen * Happy Go Luckies * Farmer Al Falfa's Pet Cat* Do Women Pay? * A Barnyard Rodeo * The Circus * Aged in the Wood * The High Flyers * The Cat's Whiskers * Love in a Cottage * Derby Day * The Cat's Revenge* Walrus Hunters * The Cat That Failed * Great Explorers * The Bad Bandit * Pearl Divers * Marathon Dancers * Nine of Spades * The Thoroughbred * Mysteries of the Seas * Pace That Kills * The Covered Pushcart* The Beauty Parlor * The Burglar Alarm * Springtime * The Stork's Mistake * Spooks * Amateur Night on the Ark * The Fable of the Fish Story * The Fable of the Mouse Catcher * Pharaoh's Tomb * The Fable of the Jolly Rounders * The Gamblers * One Hard Pull * Day by Day in Every Way * Farmer Al Falfa's Bride * The Fable of the Alley Cat * The Fable of the Sheik * The Fable of the Traveling Salesman * The Fable of the Spider and the Fly * The Fable of the Mysterious Hat * Troubles on the Ark * The Fable of the Gliders * The Fable of a Raisin and a Cake of Yeast * The Fable of a Fisherman's Jinx * The Fable of Cheating the Cheater* The Fable of a Stone Age Romeo * The Frog and the Catfish

!1924* [[http://www.viki.com/videos/1019034v-aesops-fables-episode-13 She's In Again]]* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz9od3f2X-w A Jealous Fisherman]]* Down on the Farm * Mysteries of Old Chinatown * Noah's Athletic Club (1924) ... Production Company* She's in Again (1924) ... Production Company* Lumber Jacks (1924) ... Production Company* Good Old Circus Days (1924) ... Production Company* She Knew Her Man (1924) ... Production Company* Sharp Shooters (1924) ... Production Company* The Cat and the Magnet (1924) ... Production Company* Monkey Business (1924) ... Production Company* Black Magic (1924) ... Production Company* Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) ... Production Company* Noah's Outing (1924) ... Production Company* Hawks of the Sea (1924) ... Production Company* The Mouse That Turned (1924) ... Production Company* In the Good Old Summertime (1924) ... Production Company* Barnyard Olympics (1924) ... Production Company* Message from the Sea (1924) ... Production Company* House Cleaning (1924) ... Production Company* Amelia Comes Back (1924) ... Production Company* Flying Fever (1924) ... Production Company* Woman Honor (1924) ... Production Company* The Prodigal Pup (1924) ... Production Company* The Sport of Kings (1924) ... Production Company* A Woman's Honor (1924) ... Production Company* Desert Sheiks (1924) ... Production Company* Body in the Bag (1924) ... Production Company* Home Talent (1924) ... Production Company* The Organ Grinders (1924) ... Production Company* That Old Can of Mine (1924) ... Production Company* The Flying Carpet (1924) ... Production Company* One Good Turn (1924) ... Production Company* Jolly Jail Bird (1924) ... Production Company* Jealous Fisherman (1924) ... Production Company* When Winter Comes (1924) ... Production Company* An Ideal Farm (1924) ... Production Company* Trip to the Pole (1924) ... Production Company* Homeless Pup (1924) ... Production Company* If Noah Lived Today (1924) ... Production Company* Running Wild (1924) ... Production Company* The Champion (1924) ... Production Company* From Rags to Riches (1924) ... Production Company* Champion (1924) ... Production Company* Why Mice Leave Home (1924) ... Production Company* All-Star Cast (1924) ... Production Company* Herman the Great Mouse (1924) ... Production Company* Captain Kidder (1924) ... Production Company* Rural Romance (1924) ... Production Company* Good Old College Days (1924) ... Production Company* Rat's Revenge (1924) ... Production Company* The Morning After (1924) ... Production Company* The Black Sheep (1924) ... Production Company* Animals Fair (1924) ... Production Company

!1925* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVpd8X3akSw The Picnic]]* [[http://www.viki.com/videos/1019031v-aesops-fables-episode-11 In Dutch]]* Noah Had His Troubles (1925) ... Production Company* The English Channel Swim (1925) ... Production Company* The Haunted House (1925) ... Production Company* The Bonehead Age (1925) ... Production Company* A Day's Outing (1925) ... Production Company* The Great Open Spaces (1925) ... Production Company* More Mice Than Brains (1925) ... Production Company* On the Links (1925/I) ... Production Company* The Honor System (1925) ... Production Company* Wild Cats of Paris (1925) ... Production Company* Laundry Man (1925) ... Production Company* Closer Than a Brother (1925) ... Production Company* Air-Cooled (1925) ... Production Company* The Hero Wins (1925) ... Production Company* The Lion and the Monkey (1925) ... Production Company* Hungry Hounds (1925) ... Production Company* Nuts and Squirrels (1925) ... Production Company* The Ugly Duckling (1925) ... Production Company* Barnyard Follies (1925) ... Production Company* Window Washers (1925) ... Production Company* Over the Plate (1925) ... Production Company* Soap (1925) ... Production Company* Bubbles (1925) ... Production Company* Yarn About Yarn (1925) ... Production Company* Bugville Field Day (1925) ... Production Company* For the Love of a Gal (1925) ... Production Company* When Men Were Men (1925) ... Production Company* Wine, Women, and Song (1925) ... Production Company* Office Help (1925) ... Production Company* Runaway Balloon (1925) ... Production Company* The End of the World (1925) ... Production Company* The Runt (1925) ... Production Company* Hot Times in Iceland (1925) ... Production Company* Echoes from the Alps (1925) ... Production Company* A Fast Worker (1925) ... Production Company* Darkest Africa (1925) ... Production Company* Permanent Waves (1925) ... Production Company* Deep Stuff (1925) ... Production Company* S.O.S. (1925) ... Production Company* The Adventures of Adenoid (1925) ... Production Company* At the Zoo (1925) ... Production Company* Housing Shortage (1925) ... Production Company* The Pie Man (1925) ... Production Company* Jungle Bike Riders (1925) ... Production Company* Clean-Up Week (1925) ... Production Company* Fisherman's Luck (1925/I) ... Production Company* Bigger and Better Jails (1925) ... Production Company* Transatlantic Flight (1925) ... Production Company* Biting the Dust (1925) ... Production Company* Hold That Thought (1925) ... Production Company* African Huntsmen (1925) ... Production Company* One Game Pup (1925) ... Production Company* On the Ice (1925) ... Production Company

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o-IgDF7O34 Toonerville Trolley]]--Jan 17--Rainbow Parade--Gillet, Palmer, with cameo of Molly Moo Cow.* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k0Z0tRCmvA Felix The Cat in "The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg"]]--Feb 7, RP, Gillett, Palmer* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlQDO2lr7mE Molly Moo Cow and Robinson Crusoe]]--Feb 26, RP--Gil, Palm* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obr8qB8DHFk Neptune Nonsense]]--March 20, RP, Gil, Palm, starring FelixTheCat.* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isbzfRh4za8 Bold King Cole]]--May 29, RP, Gillett, starring FelixTheCat.* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSK-C9dnPBw A Waif's Welcome]]--June 19, RP--Palmer* [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jASTvrCJviU Trolley Ahoy]]--July 3--RP (Toonerville Trolley)--Gillett* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeEgHFyHo1Y Cupid Gets His Man]]--July 24, RP--Palmer* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zksn1FHCRq8 It's a Greek Life]]--August 2, Rainbow Parade--Dan Gordon* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGZtFH27BiQ Toonerville Picnic]]--October 2--RP--TVTroll--Gillett[[/folder]]----!!Tropes related to the studio:* AllJustADream: The end of "Wonders of the Deep", where the cat finds out the octopus he's fighting is Farmer Al Falfa, [[RuleOfFunny though the cat still has the bag of money from the dream.]] He trades it with Al in exchange for food and runs off, only for Al to find out its full of hundreds of mice instead!* AlcoholHic: Molly Moo Cow gets this after getting drunk in "Molly Moo Cow Meets Rip Van Winkle".* AmoralAttorney: In "Trouble", Tom and Jerry are running a failing lawyer business, and resort to ShamelessSelfPromotion by walking right in front of a marching band. * AnimatedAdaptation: They made three of them, based on Otto Soglow's comic "The Little King" (with two preceding shorts based on its companion strip, "Sentinel Louie"), the radio show "Amos N Andy", and Fontaine Fox's comic "Toonerville Trolley". * AnAesop: Ironically subverted with the Aesop's Fables shorts (which have [[SpoofAesop parody aesops]] in the silent shorts and abandoned them altogether by the sound era) but played straight in the Toddle Tales and some of the Rainbow Parade shorts. "Spinning Mice" for instance has the moral of "Leave Well Enough Alone".* AnimationBump / ArtEvolution: By the late 1933 to 1934 period, the studios animation was considerably improving over their earlier shorts. As early as "Sinister Stuff", the characters become noticeably less flat and more rounded and appealing. Then Burt Gillett got to the studio, and the animation improved even more.** The three [[Creator/HarmanAndIsing Harman-Ising]] Cubby Bear shorts ("Gay Gaucho", "Cubby's World Flight" and "Mischievous Mice") have much more polished animation than the shorts prior to "Sinister Stuff".** Several shorts, such as "Makin' Em Move", "The Fatal Note" and "Fiddlin' Fun", have shots where the backgrounds are animated in three dimensional perspective. * ArtDeco: The Little King shorts have some of their characters designed like this, in order to match the designs of the original comic. The backgrounds are still standard ink wash paintings, and many of the other characters still use the Van Beuren house style.* ArtShift: The three [[Creator/HarmanAndIsing Harman-Ising]] Cubby Bear shorts are drawn In a very different style than the rest of the series.** The Little King Van Beuren shorts have more of an ArtDeco aesthetic to the character designs to match the look of the comic it adapted from.* AncientGreece: The setting of "Fiddlin' Fun". * AnimateInanimateObject: The living clocks in "Grandfather's Clock", and the living kitchen appliances in "Picnic Panic".* APirate400YearsTooLate: Even though most of the Cubby Bear cartoons are clearly set in the 1930's, there are pirates in "Bubbles and Troubles".* ArtifactTitle: The Aesop's Fables sound films, which abandoned the format of the silent shorts (which were somewhat based on the actual fables and had "Aesops" at the end of each one) in favor of the musical gag cartoon format.* BadassAdorable: Cubby Bear is adorable looking, and as we see in shorts like "Goode Knight", he can kick butt if he needs too. ** When one of their brothers is threatened, the other two kittens in "Rough on Rats" give the evil rat one heck of a beatdown during the climax! ** Felix the Cat retains this trait in his shorts. He even sword fights the villain of "The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg"!* AsteroidsMonster: In "Parrotville Fire Department", one of the parrots tries to take down one of living little flames with an axe, but this just splits them into even smaller little fires. * BalefulPolymorph: In "Spinning Mice", the evil little devils turn the wizard into a giant rabbit by spilling his own potion on him. * BaseballEpisode: "The Ball Game". * BearyFunny: Cubby Bear.* BedsheetGhost: A group of them briefly pop up to scare Tom and Jerry in "Wot a Night", but they quickly fall through a trapdoor--just to wind up with a group of skeletons instead.* BeeAfraid: The fate of the Lepodopterist in "Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies", where Molly sends him tripping against a local beehive, prompting them to chase off the guy.* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted in "Jungle Jam"; Tom and Jerry seem like they're going to be rescued from the cannibals cornering them on the beach; but as soon as their leader sees who they're rescuing, he immediately does a 180 with the rest of the navy, leaving Tom and Jerry to wing it and swim for their lives under the fire of the cannibals spears. ** In "Rough on Rats", two of the kittens save their third sibling from an evil rat this way.** In "Along Came A Duck", the frog saves the duck he was messing around with from drowning, as his shenanigans got the duck tangled in seaweed underwater in the first place. ** Molly Moo Cow pulls this to save Robinson Cruesoe from a tribe of cannibals in "Molly Moo Cow and Robinson Cruesoe". She swims back to the island after Robin had scared her off, and grabs all of his rifles with her tail and uses them to scare off the cannibal tribe.* TheBigDamnKiss: Milton Mouse gives this to his girlfriend in the end of "Circus Capers", and [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar it literally makes her panties fly clean off!]]* BlackComedy: In " Sultan Pepper", the Little King invites a Sultan to his castle, who brings an entire harem with him. During dinner, he counts them all and realizes there's 13 of them, so he takes the only fat one into a back room and ''shoots her with a pistol'', stating after the fact that "Thirteen is bad luck."* BodyHorror: In "Swiss Trick", Tom and Jerry are visiting the Swiss Alps, they eat a strange kind of cheese that causes swiss cheese like holes to open up in their body! And then get chased by an army of mice who think they're walking cheese. ** In "Wot A Night", they inexplicably get their lower bodies (but not their heads) reduced to bare skeletons. * BoxingKangaroo: One briefly appears in "A Royal Good Time", and it helps the King escape from the villain of the short.* BrawnHilda: Katrinka in the Toonerville Trolley series.* BrattyHalfPint: Farmer Al Falfa deals with two pesky kids in "Day at the Park", and the local monkey, bitter at him over their last fight, uses the situation to call the police on Al.* ButtMonkey: Mr. Bang in the Toonerville Trolley series.* CaptainErsatz: Milton Mouse, who was an obvious ripoff of Mickey Mouse. Incidentally, by the time of "Hot Tamale", Milton looked identical to another Mickey Mouse clone: [[WesternAnimation/LadyPlayYourMandolin Foxy]], of Warner Bros. cartoons. As with Foxy, Walt quickly got wind of Van Beuren's ripoff and forced them to never use Milton again. This didn't stop them from creating another, less blatant ersatz of Mickey, called Cubby Bear.** "The Farmarette" features a boop oop a doop cat girl that is obviously inspired by BettyBoop; she's even voiced by one of Betty's actresses, Bonnie Poe!* CapturedByCannibals: Waffles and Don wind up in this situation in "Jungle Jazz".** The Little King gets captured by a tribe of them in "On The Pan"; he's even served with Happy Birthday topping written in him!** Tom and Jerry also suffer this fate in "Jungle Jam". They win them over with their music, at least until they try to run away.** Robinson Cruesoe suffers this fate in "Molly Moo Cow and Robinson Cruesoe", but Molly manages to save him.* CartoonBomb: What the villain of "The Fatal Note" tries to kill the King with.* CardCarryingVillain: The evil gnomes in "Sunshine Makers", who openly call themselves nasty, mean and sad, and hate anything sunny or happy.* CardboardPrison: Of the lighter variety, the dog catcher in "Dinnertime" unwittingly let's all of his dogs loose while trying to catch the dogs raiding Farmer Al Falfa's meat shop.** The royal prison the King visits in "Jolly Good Felons", which is played for laughs; one of the prisoners even removes one of the bars from his cell window, only to dust it off and put it back. Then the King unwittingly ticks off a prisoner by ruining his chess game, which makes him tear the bars off his cell, steal the keys from the prison guard, and then a lever that releases all of the prisoners! * CatchingSomeZs: In the opening of "Dinnertime", the bird is sleeping like this until his alarm clock wakes him up, and the dog catcher in the same shirt is doing this before he's awakened. * CatsAreMean: The cat in "Dinnertime" and the villainous cat in "Bird Scouts". * CatsHaveNineLives: The cat in "Dinnertime" almost loses his nine lives from falling, but he climbs back up through the air to get them. A nearby dog who was drinking beer sees this, looks at his bottle, and then drops it and runs off in fear. * ChannelHop: Of the pre-Tv variety; Felix was previously made by the Pat Sullivan studio and distributed by at least five different companies (Paramount, Winkler, Educational, First National and Copley Pictures). By 1936, Van Beuren licensed the character for their studio, and for that brief period they were distributed by RKO pictures.* ChristmasEpisode: "Opening Night", Cubby Bear's first short. SantaClaus even cameos in the opening.** The Little King short "Pals" is set during Christmas Eve, and the reused print of the film was even renamed "Christmas Night".* CoolShip: Tom and Jerry's rocket ship in "The Phantom Rocket". * CuteKitten: The kittens in "Rough on Rats", "Merry Kittens", "Rag Dog" and "Scottie Finds A Home". Felix the Cat also counts in his three shorts.* DarkestAfrica: The jungle settings of "Darkest Africa", "Jungle Jazz", Mild Cargo" and "Plane Dumb".* DaEditor: Walter Finchell's boss, an owl, in "A Little Bird Told Me".* DastardlyWhiplash: The villain of "Sinister Stuff".* TheDeadCanDance: A good chunk of "Wot A Night" is centered on a skeleton composer playing a piano song, prompting his other skeleton friends to dance to it.* DemBones: The army of skeletons in "Wot a Night". Tom and Jerry inexplicably wind up like this at the end.** A fishing skeleton appears for a gag in "The Rocketeers". ** The dancing mummy skeleton and his subsequent army of skeletons in "Gypped In Egypt".* DerangedAnimation: Most of the pre-Gillett Van Beuren cartoons are very wildly animated and surreal in tone.* DinosaurDoggieBone: A trio of dogs fight over one in "Dinnertime".* DistressedDamsel: Cubby Bear's love interest Honey, who seems to exist only to be rescued by Cubby. * DisneyAcidSequence: Occurs in "Gypped in Egypt" after Waffles and Don unwittingly kill their camel, which causes the Sphinx to put a curse on them.* TheDitz: The Little King has shades of this. While he's not incompetent, he acts very eccentric and childish for someone in his position.* DIYDisaster: The conflict of "Joint Wipers". Tom and Jerry are amateur plumbers, and they unwittingly flood the entire building they're working in.* DomesticOnlyCartoon: All of the shorts were made in the US. * DownerEnding: While "Jolly Good Felons" ends with the prison riot subdued, the King is mistakenly jailed with all of them, while another prisoner escaped by disguising himself in his stolen regal outfit. * EverythingsBetterWithCows: The "Molly Moo Cow" shorts.* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: For no particular reason, a monkey happens to reside in a nearby tree in "Day at the Park", and it causes Al Fslfa a good deal of trouble.* EverythingsNuttierWithSquirrels: The ending of "In the Bag"; Tom got his money bag swapped out with walnuts, and when he opens the bag in the forest and finds out he's been duped, a bunch of squirrels swarm him! * TheEveryman: Cubby Bear. He can be a good fighter, dancer and singer, but otherwise has little going for him personality wise.* EvilDetectingDog: In "Scottie Finds A Home", the eponymous terrier knows right away that the vagrant who arrives at the grandmothers house is up yo no good. After barking at him, the hobo hangs him by his sweater on a nearby tree as he goes off to pester the grandma cat for food. * {{Expy}}: Their Tom and Jerry were just human versions of previous Van Beuren characters Waffles the Cat and Don Dog.** In the Harman-Ising Cubby Bear shorts, Cubby looks, moves and acts very similar to Harman-Ising's own BoskoTheTalkInkKid.* ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt: The opening of "Mild Cargo" has a goat spreading newspapers of Cubby's arrival at their jungle, while shouting the phrase.** The bird from the ending of "A Little Bird Told Me" says this to the kids after she's done telling her story.* FollowTheLeader: This was Van Beuren's greatest weakness as a studio; while their animation was as off the wall as you could get, their cartoons were very derivative of what other studios were doing, and they were clearly handicapped by their inability to create unique characters. Many of their early 30's cartoons take their surreal cues straight from their next door rival FleischerStudios; "The Farmerette" even has an obvious BettyBoop stand in, even voiced by one of her actresses, Bonnie Poe. One of their sound fables, "Panicky Pup", is an obvious knockoff of Fleischer's [[WesternAnimation/SwingYouSinners "Swing, You Sinners!"]] Their Tom and Jerry is a flaccid attempt at a ComicStrip/MuttAndJeff-esque duo, and their Milton Mouse and Cubby Bear, as well as their interpretation of WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat, are obvious MickeyMouse knockoffs. Their Toddle Tale and some of their Rainbow Parade cartoons ride off the coat of Disney's SillySymphonies series.* FoodPorn: "Pastry Town Wedding" is entirely set in a colorful land of cake and cake decorations.* FramingDevice: The Toddle Tales and two of the Rainbow Parade shorts have live action openings and endings, with the cartoon segments inbetween that provide the "morals" of the cartoons. * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Many of the Van Beuren cartoons predate the Hays Office, and often contain raunchy gags and sometimes questionable subject matter; in "Circus Capers", Milton Mouse's girlfriend has a sexual affair with his ringmaster boss, and when she comes back to him, he gives her a kiss that makes her underwear fly clean off!* TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation* HairRaisingHare: The rabbit Tom and Jerry are hunting in "Rabid Hunters". It turns out to be a skunk In disguise.* HairTriggerTemper: The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang in the Toonerville Trolley series.* HarmlessVillain: The Lepodopterist in "Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies". He's not even portrayed as malicious, but as a wimpy fool who only wants to catch butterflies, [[ObliviouslyEvil obliviously]] at the expense of their freedom. He even sings about how he's too cowardly to go hunting for lions or tigers, so he spends time catching butterflies as his hobby.* HauntedCastle: The setting of "Wot a Night". * {{Hobos}}: The antagonist of "Scottie Finds A Home" is a vagrant who heckles the kittens grandma for free food in her own home.* IAmSong: Robinson Cruesoe gets one early in "Molly Moo Cow Meets Robinson Cruesoe".* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanShipAcademy: The guards in "Goode Knight" are all cross eyed, and thus are terrible shots with their arrows when they're going after Cubby.* InNameOnly: Only the earliest Aesop's Fables cartoons were loose adaptations of the [[AesopsFables actual Fables]]; later entries usually revolved around cats, mice, and the disgruntled Farmer Al Falfa.* InstitutionalApparel: The prisoners in "Jolly Good Felons" wear these. ** The robber villain in "The Phantom Rocket" wears this. * {{iSophagus}}: Late in "Bird Scouts", the cat that's attacking the birds ends up getting one of their bugles stuck in its throat, which unintentionally rallies the young scouts against it.* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Robinson Cruesoe in "Molly Moo Cow and Robinson Cruesoe". Initially, he is openly hostile and drives Molly away from the island just so he can be alone, even though he admits she's a nice cow. He comes around and befriends Molly once she saves him from a tribe of cannibals.* JekyllAndHyde / SpidersAreScary: The spider villain in "Fly Frolics".* KnightOfCerebus: The giant rat in "Rough on Rats"; once he shows up, kidnaps and tries to kill one of the kittens, the tone of the cartoon considerably changes.* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: The Burt Gillett era shorts from 1934 to 1936 take a total 180 approach to the studios previous cartoons, completely overhauling the art direction, animation and content.* LighterAndSofter: The Gillett era Van Beuren shorts.* LiteralAssKicking: In "Dinnertime", the puppy does this to another dog before running off.** Nero's champion does this to Cubby upon accepting his challenge to the chariot race in "Fiddlin' Fun".** Jerry does this to a cannibal before running off in "Jungle Jam". * MadBomber: The villain of "The Fatal Note", who tries, and fails, to kill the King with a bomb.* MediumBlending: For some odd reason, the opening titles to "Plane Dumb" has a live action waterfall superimposed behind it.* MickeyMousing; As usual for golden age cartoons, all of the films are timed to musical tempos and beats, with characters often moving directly in synch with the musical tracks.* TheMiddleAges: The setting of "Goode Knight", where Cubby Bear plays the role of Robin Hood.* {{Mordor}}: The swampy, gnarly and desolate village of the evil gnomes in "Sunshine Makers", at least until the good gnomes bombard it with Sunshine milk, turning it into a colorful, lively land lush with life again. * MoodWhiplash: "Rough on Rats" is mostly a cutesy, happy gag cartoon--but then the rat comes along and kidnaps one of the kittens, trying to cut him in half with a buzz saw as the music and tone (and even the music, complete with a wailing chorus) takes a dramatic turn as the other two kittens come to his rescue and assault the rat.* MorphWeapon: Of the funny variant; in "Rabid Hunters", Tom corners a rabbit, first pulling out a handgun, but then he turns it Into a hunting rifle on the spot.* MsFanservice / PettingZooPerson: The MaeWest horse from "Galloping Fanny", and the Mae West duck in "Mild Cargo".* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Celebrity caricatures were common in several of the shorts, such as Honey Bear dressing up as MaeWest and Gandhi making a cameo in "Croon Crazy", and a bird in "A Little Bird Told Me" being named Walter Finchell, a play on the famous radio star Walter Winchell. ** The buzzard who turns his head into that of Jimmy Dirante in "On The Pan".** "Cupid Gets His Man" features a character who is a caricature of W.C. Fields. * NoMoreForMe: In "Dinnertime", a dig with a bottle of beer has this reaction when he sees a cat climb into the air to recollect it's lost nine lives.* NoNameGiven: The kittens in "Merry Kittens" and "Rag Dog" aren't named, are interchangeable in personality, and are only distinguishable by their colors (white, orange, grey). * ObliviouslyEvil: The Lepodopterist in "Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies". He's just a giddy butterfly catcher who does it as a hobby, and is too ignorant to realize the feelings of the bugs he catches. Molly, of course, [[SeriousBusiness will not let this stand.]]* OffscreenTeleportation: The rabbit in "Rabid Hunters" uses this when Tom and Jerry are chasing it on a tree branch. * OffWithHisHead: Tom briefly gets his head knocked off as a gag in "Swiss Trick". He quickly puts it back on. * PaperThinDisguise: Tom and Jerry disguise themselves in blackface makeup (while impersonating Amos N Andy at the same time) when they travel to Africa in "Plane Dumb". The natives aren't fooled.* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Before starting their Little King shorts, Van Beuren made two shorts based on the Little King's companion strip, "Sentinel Louie", which were both released as part of the Aesop's Fables series of shorts.** "Plane Dumb" feels like a prototype for the Van Beuren Amos n Andy shorts, since the bulk of the cartoon has Tom and Jerry disguised in blackface makeup and acting like Amos N Andy, even talking a lot, [[SuddenlyVoiced something they almost never did in previous shorts.]]* PoundsAreAnimalPrisons: The dog pound in "Dinnertime" Is presented like this.* ProductPlacement: "The Sunshine Makers" was originally made as a promotional film for Borden's Milk.* PsychoSerum: In "Spinning Mice", the wizards magic potion, which normally turns ugly things into beautiful things, becomes this after an extra ingredient accidentally falls into it, turning a batch of mice into little Red Devils. ** In "Sunshine Makers", the evil gnomes have a murky spray that can counteract the happy effects of the good gnome sunshine milk. * PublicDomainAnimation: All 189 of their sound cartoons (as well as their 347 silent cartoons) have fallen into the PublicDomain, which made it easy for Thunderbean to re-release them once they found the best source materials available.* PunnyName: Walter Finchell, the bird reporter in "A Little Bird Told Me", a parody of the then famous radio star Walter Winchell. * RandomEventsPlot: Most of the shorts are strings of gags or musical affairs with no real plot to speak of. * RobeAndWizardHat: The wizard in "Spinning Mice" wears this getup. * RobotBuddy: Farmer Al Falfa's robot in "The Iron Man".* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The Little King, who often takes the initiative to do something in his own hands, including fighting his own assailant in "The Fatal Note".* RubberhoseLimbs: Present on virtually all of the characters in the studios shorts, same the occasional design with more muscle or fat on their limbs.* SantaClaus: Appears in the opening of "Opening Night" and also appears in "Pals / Christmas Night".* SadClown: Milton Mouse briefly becomes his during the end of "Circus Capers" when his girlfriend has an affair with the ringmaster. He even addresses himself as a sad clown in his brief song number, only for his girlfriend to have second thoughts and come back to him.* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In "Jungle Jam", the Navy pulls this on Tom and Jerry, just when it seemed like they were going to rescue them.* SentientVehicle: The train early in "Swiss Trick". At one point, it gives out and a rescue dog arrives to give it some brandy to drink. * ShamelessSelfPromoter: In "Trouble", Tom and Jerry walk right in front of a marching band with a sign in order to promote their failing lawyer business.* ShowWithinAShow: "Makin' Em Move" is set In a cartoon studio run by cartoon animals, who watch the cartoon they made during the end.* ShoutOut: In "Pals / Christmas Night", one of the hoboes the King befriends has the NRA ([[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Recovery_Administration National Recovery Administration]]) logo tattooed on his chest.* TheSilentAgeOfAnimation: The earlier Aesop's Fables shorts.* SissyVillain: The Lepodopterist from "Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies".* SlippySlideyIceWorld: The setting of "Frozen Frolics" and "Polar Pals".* SmellySkunk:** Used for a gag in "Noah Knew His Ark"--the two skunks are stuck in their own private boat tied behind the ark.** The rabbit in "Rabid Hunters" turns out to be a skunk in disguise. * SpaceWhaleAesop: The "moral" of "Grandfather's Clock"; don't play around with or smash clocks, because they have hearts and feelings just like you and me!* SpoofAesop: During the silent era of the series, each cartoon would end with a so-called "Sugar Coated Pill of Wisdom". "Summertime" (1929), for instance, ends with the line "Hairs, brains and skirts are short this season." * StandardSnippet: When the Navy Beans are marching out in "How's Crops?", the staple song "The Sailor's Hornpipe" plays. It's also used briefly in "Polar Pals" when a pelican has a xylophone played in its mouth.** Early in "Wot a Night", the "Volga Boatmen" song plays when a car is wading through flooded waters.** In "Rabid Hunters", the hunting song "A Hunting We Will Go" plays when Tom and Jerry begin hunting.* StockFootage: A scene of Cubby riding a horse in "The Gay Gaucho" is reused from Creator/HarmanAndIsing's "WesternAnimation/LadyPlayYourMandolin".** An entire sequence of "Silvery Moon" is retraced animation from "Toy Time". ** "Noah Knew His Ark" reuses footage from a short released five months before it, "Ship Ahoy".** "The Farmarette" reuses an entire sequence, complete with its original soundtrack, from the short "Farm Foolery".** "Chinese Jinks" (1932) reuses a sequence from "Laundry Blues" (1930).** "Plane Dumb" reuses a brief sequence of blackface skeletons singing from "Wot a Night".** The Little King shorts sometimes reused backgrounds from previous shorts, as well as the staircase sequence that's animated in perspective. ** The 1936 Egyptian cartoon "Mafish Fayda" traces several scenes of animation from the Tom and Jerry shorts "Wot a Night" and "In the Bag".* SuddenAnatomy: Molly Moo Cow's feet can turn into hands whenever the situation calls for it.* SuperStrength / PintSizedPowerhouse: The puppy in "Dinnertime" is able to easily lift up a comically large piece of meat from Farmer Al Falfa's butcher shop before he gets caught. * SuddenlyVoiced: Much like the [[TomAndJerry more well known cat and mouse duo]], Tom and Jerry very rarely speak in most of their shorts (mostly making mumbles or yells instead), with the exception of "Plane Dumb".** Felix the Cat's shorts also count as this, since he was a silent cartoon star to begin with, and even his handful of earlier sound films had no real dialogue for him either.** In "Molly Moo Cow Meets Rip Van Winkle", Molly, who usually speaks in moos or grunts (with occasional facsimiles of sounds like "Yoo hoo!") gets a handful of speaking lines.* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Waffles and Don are inexplicably able to breathe underwater in "The Haunted Ship". ** Tom and Jerry do this in "The Rocketeers", since most of the short is set underwater.* ThickLineAnimation: The general art style of the studio used this, especially in its early 30s shorts, but abandoned it once Burt Gillett arrived and overhauled the whole shop.* ThirteenIsUnlucky: In "Sultan Pepper", the Sultan shoots one of his harem girls off screen, since he realized there was 13 of them. After the fact, he states that he did it because "Thirteen is bad luck."* TooManyBabies: In "Frozen Frolics", a [[DeliveryStork stork]] delivers a batch of at least 43 baby penguins to a visibly worried father penguin. * UnderTheSea: Most of "The Rocketeers" is set underwater, after Tom and Jerry's attempt to fly off on a rocket goes haywire. * UnusuallyUninterestingSight: In "Circus Capers", when Milton Mouse flies thru the ringmasters roof, Milton's girlfriend is too involved in her affair with the ringmaster to even glance over at him!* TheUnintelligible: When the Little King "speaks" in "Jest of Honor", it's indecipherable gibberish.* VillainousCrossdresser: The robber villain of "The Phantom Rocket". * VillainSong: The brief song by the evil gnomes In "Sunshine Makers".** The Lepodopterist's ditty from "Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies", [[ObliviouslyEvil for the given value]] [[HarmlessVillain of a villain.]]** The Pirates song number in "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg".** The "You Talk Too Much" number from "Bold King Cole".* TheVoiceless: Just like in the comic, the Little King has no dialogue. Even when he does "speak" in "Jest of Honor", it's [[TheUnintelligible completely unintelligible gibberish.]]** Tom and Jerry act like this in most of their shorts, with the notable exception of "Plane Dumb".** Molly Moo Cow usually doesn't speak in her shorts either; she either makes cow like moos and grunts, or facsimiles of words like "Yoo Hoo!". She does have a few lines of dialogue in "Molly Moo Cow Meets Rip Van Winkle".* WeaponizedHeadgear: The villain of "In the Bag" has four guns poking out of his hat that he uses to shoot Jerry with during the climatic chase.* WizardClassic: The wizard in "Spinning Mice".* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In "Rough on Rats", the mother cat is present for the first minute, but vanishes for the rest of the cartoon as the kittens play around in the grocery shop, not even appearing when one of her kittens is kidnapped and almost killed by a rat.* WhenItRainsItPours: The opening of "Wot A Night" has Tom and Jerry stuck in a rainstorm so heavy, it floods their car! * WheelOFeet: The butterfly catcher runs like this when he's trying to run after the butterflies in "Molly Moo Cow and the Butterflies".* WholesomeCrossdresser: Used by two dancing cowboys during "In the Bag". * WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Despite his Farmer moniker, Al Falfa has held different jobs throughout his shorts, such as running a deli (I.e. Dinnertime) or being a local cop (I.e. Day at the Park).* WilliamTelling: In "A Royal Good Time", the King has his servants place apples on their heads, which he perfectly shoots off with his rifle as he moves along. * TheWildWest: The setting of "Hot Tamale", The Gay Gaucho", "In the Bag" and "Redskin Blues".* WoodlandCreatures: The birds of "A Little Bird Told Me", who live in a forest village. * WrittenSoundEffect: Tom calls to Jerry for help this way when he falls underwater in "Polar Pals".* XRaySparks: One of the mice electrocutes Cubby's cat this way with a lightbulb socket In "Mischevious Mice". * YouDirtyRat: "Rough on Rats" revolves around a trio of cute kittens battling a large, nasty rat.----